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KickStarter Stoneshard - open world roguelike RPG - now available on Early Access

Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
276
I still can't wrap my head around why they've shoehorned the book-based-skilltree unlocking system into the game, you already have a very good base system for skillpoints:
  • Current content sort of ends at level 8 ~ 11, giving you around an average of 11 skillpoints, enough to choose a "main" skilltree and potentially a "secondary" skilltree
  • Every skill is 1 level and you generally get 1 skillpoint per level, meaning that every allocation matters and wasting points getting skills you don't need to get a high tier skill in another category really hurts your character
and then there's the books:
  • RNG based drop/loot/sold items that unlock tiers of skilltrees, enjoy getting unlucky and playing tier I geomancy up to level 5, retard
For what reason?
I know a few people would want to argue that they stop you from tunnel visioning to the end of a skilltree and becoming godmegadethXxX, but that's a huge load of shit considering my most recent character found 3 different III Treaties in babies first dungeon less than 5 minutes in.
 

kreight

Guest
The dude in Manshire sells a whole library of skillbooks. Get what you need.
 

Harthwain

Magister
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Dec 13, 2019
Messages
4,690
For what reason?
I know a few people would want to argue that they stop you from tunnel visioning to the end of a skilltree and becoming godmegadethXxX, but that's a huge load of shit considering my most recent character found 3 different III Treaties in babies first dungeon less than 5 minutes in.
From Devlog: Skill System:

By the way, you won't be able to get to the top tier skills right on level six: most high tier abilities need to be unlocked first. Find a certain mentor or read a treatise to do so.
The purpose of this is obvious: on one hand it limits the sheer availability of skills from the get-go (you need money to buy exactly what you need), while at the same time providing the player with a chance to access some skills by the virtue of RNG, thereby giving the option to shake up his build a little.
 
Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
276
Wouldn't be an issue if he was in the starting town or available pre-3 contracts (possibly even with higher monetary requirements compared to the Manshire variation and only selling tier I and II?), because some skilltrees REALLY blow ass before tier II to the point where I wouldn't mind doing the first contract and some smaller side tasks and pooling all of my money into buying a II treatise instead of consumables/equipment.

On an alternate subject:
Here's hoping they really deliver on that AI rework
IoqFYOR.gif

The AI, similar to the developers, completely forgot that ranged/magic combat exists.
 

Fenix

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Jul 18, 2015
Messages
6,458
Location
Russia atchoum!
Watching how streamlers suffer with reloading the game, trying to generate best gear, why not have option to get that gear with higer chances?
Like you pay merchant for higher probablility of shipment with cathergory or even the precise weapon.
Maybe this option shouldn't be accessible just liek that, maybe you ned to do quest or something for that.
I think many would just pay like 5-10K to eliminate savescumming a bit.
 

Kalarion

Serial Ratist
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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong BattleTech Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Personally I don't see the problem. Merchant stocks refill daily, I never felt pressured to save scum inventories. I was perfectly happy to go through 2/3s of the content with my starting sword, I didn't upgrade until I bought a (natural) Katzbalger in Mannshire. The only time I started save scumming was after beating the Troll, because I was curious what stuff was available at max faction. I didn't plan to keep playing at that point so didn't mind scumming to see.

Same with skills. I knew exactly what I was going to concentrate on within a couple hours, theoretically a disaster if RNG didn't favor me with the right books. But even before the book dude was put in this patch, I never felt stifled due to having to wait a level or two worth of time to get the books I needed. And the pawn shop dude in both towns kept a large enough stock of randos that I could comfortably wait a day or two (doing, say, minor contracts) for what I needed to appear.
 
Self-Ejected

underground nymph

I care not!
Patron
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Jun 9, 2019
Messages
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Strap Yourselves In
The visual style of this game is great. Though just watched the fight with Archon and... the combat is pointless if i don’t miss something. The Archon’s special abilities are highlighted so you can easily evade them. The guy killed him with no efforts at all not losing any of the hp. Archon literally couldn’t hit him once. If that is how combat works I’m afraid this is a deal breaker for me, which is sad.
 

Harthwain

Magister
Joined
Dec 13, 2019
Messages
4,690
The visual style of this game is great. Though just watched the fight with Archon and... the combat is pointless if i don’t miss something. The Archon’s special abilities are highlighted so you can easily evade them. The guy killed him with no efforts at all not losing any of the hp. Archon literally couldn’t hit him once. If that is how combat works I’m afraid this is a deal breaker for me, which is sad.
It looks easy when you know exactly what you have to do and how to prepare for it. I died many times fighting the Archon and I killed him a few times (in the demo).
 
Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
276
The Prologue fight looks easy because the fight is easy.
Everyone I know who has played this game at least once has mopped the floor with the demo/prologue fight in their first go and then gone ahead and died to the first/second bandit camp in the "full" version of the game.
 

normie

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Insert Title Here
Hotfix 0.6.1.5 - Changelog
- The character no longer gets wet in the rain if staying under a tree.
- Fixed the duration of “Defensive Tactic”.
- Fixed “Mighty Kick” not applying Stagger when failing to knock its target back.
- Fixed crashes caused by throwing certain items.
- Fixed “Taking Aim” not working with crossbows.
- Reputation bonuses which increase traders’ stock no longer apply to the trapper and the scribe.
- Removed an excess folder in the trapper’s trade menu.
- Fixed the crash caused by dying to an unsuccessfully disarmed trap.
- “Blow After Blow” no longer triggers from destroying props.
- Fixed enemies spawning outside of the Abbey’s walls.
- Changed the on-hit algorithm: Fumble Chance is now given a priority over Crit Chance.
- “Grave Chill” now puts abilities on a 1-4 turns Cooldown instead of a 5 turns one.
- Fixed the incorrect duration of the effect of Al’qud.
- Changed priorities for enemies’ consumable usage.
- Fixed the automatic turn skip upon entering a new location.
- Added “Skinning” to the ability bar.
- Map tiles with points of interest now follow the same weather rules as the rest of the world.
- Coughing now correctly reduces Energy by 10 points, not 10%.
- Fixed trajectories for chopped heads.
- Birds no longer scare each other when taking off.
- “Determination” no longer hits the Troll multiple times.
- Fixed “Arc Cleave” replenishing an incorrect amount of Energy.
- Fixed “Onslaught” burning an incorrect amount of Energy.
- Runic boulders now generate less noise upon being raised.
- Fixed “Taste of Victory” not replenishing Energy.
- “Defensive Tactic” no longer grants an extra stack to stances when using a spell.
- “Feast of Steel” now grants Crit Chance instead of Stagger Chance, as stated in its description.
- Fixed some enemies getting multiple Pain debuffs simultaneously.
- Fixed saigas not dropping any meat when skinned.
- The undead and wraith enemies can no longer be put in Coma.
- Mushrooms can now spoil.
- Fixed the crash caused by “Hunter’s Mark”.
- Fixed the character moving into a tile with a trap right after setting it up.
- Log messages about enemies getting the Pain debuff no longer appear while they are hidden in the fog of war.
- Fixed the missing sprite for the damaged Visored Bascinet.
- Multiple fixes to enemy search algorithms.
- Numerous text fixes.
 

Abu Antar

Turn-based Poster
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Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,514
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Hotfix 0.6.1.6 - Changelog
  • Fixed enemies opening quest doors.
  • Fixed an issue in the algorithm for alarm accumulation from noise (enemies no longer react to it as fast as they used to).
  • Multiple changes to some enemy abilities’ usage algorithms.
  • Fixed Daze Chance from “Earthquake” not taking Control Resistance into account.
  • Fixed “Elusiveness” not working against enemy skills.
  • Fixed the Experience exploit with disarming claw traps.
  • Fixed AoE zones applying their effects to the Troll multiple times per turn.
  • Fixed the incorrect information on associated Attributes in new stances’ descriptions.
  • Fixed Injuries persisting after sleeping even if body parts are not damaged.
  • Fixed the Troll being able to attack while being affected by both Burning and Regeneration.
  • Fixed “Right on Target” not working with new skill trees’ abilities.
  • Fixed “Danse Macabre” not reducing enemies’ stats.
  • Fixed “Coup de Grace” dealing incorrect damage.
  • “Tormenting Swings” now only triggers on critical hits, as stated in its description.
  • Fixed the incorrect base value of Armor Penetration (was -5% instead of 0%).
  • Fixed certain stats being calculated incorrectly while dual wielding.
  • Fixed the inability of switching to another Tactic while low on Energy.
  • Fixed the log message for enemies disarming traps.
  • Fixed the log message for gathering berries.
  • The effects of “Stagger” are now twice as weak. Its maximum duration is now 1 turn.
  • Shouting now generates less noise.
  • Reduced some of the Troll’s resistances and Knockback Chance, increased its Health.
  • Increased the chance of disarming claw traps.
  • The Restless and Ghasts now have 100% Bleed Resistance.
  • Reduced damage from weapon throwing by 25%.
  • Enemy archers now drop their melee weapons on death.
  • Added Ranged Weapons treatises to Unar the Scribe’s stock.
  • Throwing now generates less noise.
  • Landing an arrow near enemies now raises their alarm level.
  • Resurrected enemies can no longer be seen through the fog of war.
  • Enemies can now also miss when using “Fire Barrage”.
  • Enemies can no longer retreat while Immobilized.
  • Wraiths now become aggressive on the same turn as they appear from their sarcophagus.
  • Enemies will no longer cast “Sacrificial Blood” on themselves.
  • Using medical consumables now stops the character’s movement.
  • Fixed the Beastslayer’s corpse sprite being displayed incorrectly.
  • Fixed grip visuals for some axes.
  • Numerous visual fixes.
  • Numerous text fixes.
 

normie

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Insert Title Here
Year One Anniversary & Progress Update
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Hello everyone!

Today Stoneshard celebrates its first anniversary: it’s been exactly a year since the game was released into Early Access! By an amazing coincidence, the Black Boar tavern’s anniversary shares the same date - to honor this remarkable event, Brukk the Innkeeper decided to decorate his establishment. During this month his guests will also be gifted a free pie, baked by a special recipe. Make sure to launch the game to participate in the festivities!

Now back to our plans. Over the last year the game saw noticeable improvements: there were four major updates and a content patch, as well as an innumerable amount of hotfixes and smaller updates. We still have a long road ahead of us, something we will talk about today.

Right now we’re working on the “City of Gold” update, the largest one yet. It’s meant to significantly expand the global map, add basic caravan mechanics, the first major city, new biomes, new points of interest, random encounters, and also a number of currently unannounced, but very important features. As you can see, this is a lot of content, so “City of Gold” will be released approximately in Q2 2021.

Most new systems are still being prototyped, so it will be a while before the devlogs on them are published. While we’re working on the technical side of the global map, have a look at this concept art and teasers for the upcoming content:

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As we implement the city of Brynn, we also plan to expand the game’s lore. There’ll likely be a few devlogs dedicated to it as well.


That’s all for now. Until the next devlog!

0.6.0.8 – CHANGELOG

- The Black Boar tavern was decorated in celebration of the anniversary.
- You can now get a free pie from Brukk.
- Changed the troll rewards:
  • Increased the gold reward up to 10 000 crowns.
  • Most item rewards were changed: Weber will now give more expensive and higher level items.
  • Added an option to ask for a crossbow, a spear, a two-handed axe, or a two-handed mace.
-Increased the loot quality in secret room containers. Some of them are now guaranteed to have unique items.
- Vases as well as both common and wealthy sarcophaguses now contain less valuable loot.
- Temporarily removed unpopular or useless effects (such as resistances to rare damage types) from the list of possible enchantments.
- Changed the power of some enchantment effects:
  • Bleed Chance, Damage Reflection: +5% > +7.5%
  • Fire, Unholy, Move, Control, and Bleed Resistances: +5% > +10%
  • Armor Damage: +25% > +33%
  • Crit Efficiency: +20% > +25%
  • Spells and Skills Energy Costs, Cooldowns Duration: -10% > -7.5%
- With certain exceptions, equipment higher than level 10 can no longer be found in graves. Drop rates for the rest of the valuable loot were increased.
- [Counterattack Mastery] No longer grants Off-Hand Efficiency if the main hand holds a shield.
- Decreased the base level range for the equipment sold by merchants.
- Fixed the Skeleton Crossbowman, which was technically armed with a bow.
- Defensive Stance now works as described.
- Skinning a dog now yields a pelt of the correct color.
- Fixed the bug preventing unlocked skills from being saved.
- Fixed the bug with the Sigil of Darkness disappearing prematurely.
- Fixed animals not displaying a visual indicator when entering a territorial state after being shot at.
 

normie

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Insert Title Here
Devlog: Progress Update
414b59c90aad9ba05366042f15480fbbdc747e6b.png


Hello everyone!

The work on the City of Gold update, planned for Summer 2021, is well underway. It’ll be the largest update of Stoneshard’s Early Access so far, adding a huge amount of new content and drastically changing the way the game functions. Today we’ll talk about a number of important features, which we currently develop.

SAVING ON EXIT

9LbGlcV.gif


Now that City of Gold took a step away from our standard update schedule (once every 2-3 months), we actually have time to make all required changes to the world generation and saving systems. This means that the City of Gold update will finally introduce a highly requested feature - saving on exit. After its proper implementation, you won’t have to search for a tavern or a nearby camp in case of emergency or interruption - you’ll be able to safely close the game and then continue from where you left off whenever you’re ready.

It’s worth mentioning that this is not quick saving - saves on exit will be deleted upon loading. The character’s death will still return you to the latest camp or tavern save, preserving the weight of risk and responsibility for your choices.

KILLABLE NPCs

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Along with the expansion of the global map, there’ll be a new event type added to the game - random encounters, during which you’ll meet new characters and witness many interesting scenes. In order to properly add this feature, we ended up reworking the existing NPC system, making most of them killable.

Naturally, killing NPCs will result in consequences other than an obvious hit to your reputation. Right now we work on the crime and punishment system to properly reflect possible outcomes. We’ll be able to share more details about this feature once it’s close to completion.

NEW LOCATIONS

9caf0083542aca950eb38216ac43780d8c990f47.png


Other than random encounters, we’ll also add lots of new points of interest. We won’t get into much detail and preserve the intrigue, so here are some screenshots to keep your interest piqued:

RIVERS

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Rivers and other bodies of water are an important element of the global map expansion, adding a noticeable amount of variety to the world. Rivers won’t just sit there looking pretty - there’ll be a number of mechanics associated with them, such as swimming.

STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS

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Initially we planned to add achievements only after the game is out of Early Access, as their conditions can change significantly during the development. However, we listened to the players and decided to partially implement achievements with the City of Gold update, starting with those which are unlikely to be influenced by possible reworks - about 50 of them in total.

THE LUTE



A small, but a pleasant addition. The Equipment Update II introduced a lute to the game, while City of Gold will let you actually play it. You’ll be able to reproduce your favorite musical pieces to lift the character’s spirit. Or attract nearby enemies, depending on your luck.


That’s all for now. Until the next devlog!
 

Jedi Exile

Arcanum
Patron
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
1,177
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I've finally finished the prologue and decided to buy the game. Damn it's really good! However, with the current save system, it will take maybe another year for me to finish it.
 

normie

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Insert Title Here
Brynn Lore – Part I
2b5857253ccafa593c126ec0e89cffb7c8fa7349.png


Hello everyone!

This post is the first one in the series dedicated to the lore of the upcoming major update, “City of Gold”. Today we’ll tell you about the glorious city of Brynn, its history, and its internal situation.

SHORT DESCRIPTION

4bf7ce9c1b6cb718fc81a8ab5c89a976c1d8544d.png


Brynn. The mere mention of it invokes images of freedom and affluence. Some people see it as a city of skilled craftsmen and industrious merchants, while others - a den of petty hagglers and crooks, where a purse full of gold is more valuable than a person’s life. Either way, there can be little argument about one thing - Brynn is the wealthiest Aldorian city and one of the most prosperous places on the western side of the Continent.

There’s a saying that the very air of Brynn makes people free: according to an ancient custom, anyone can become its citizen after living there for a year. As a result, the city has always been attracting people fleeing from serfdom, poverty, and hunger, many of them becoming permanent residents. After the recent war these streams of refugees turned into rivers, which flooded the city’s streets with peasants hoping to earn some coin for themselves and their families.

HISTORY

It wouldn’t be true to say that Brynn survived the Strife unscathed - after all, the war actually started because of it. During his rule, the late King Etbert stripped Brynn of its status as a free city, making quite a lot of enemies in the process. The monarch’s death and the succession crisis, which followed afterwards, created a perfect opportunity for overturning this decision, and the Brynn elites did just that.

Brynn refused to recognize the authority of the Regent Queen, who became the next ruler, instead opting for an open rebellion. The royal governor was apprehended and executed without a trial, and the control was once again seized by the richest merchant families of the city - the Silver League. The age-long dispute between the local merchants and the nobility was temporarily set aside: they united against the common enemy, creating the Great Magistrate. They plan to settle for no less than overthrowing the existing order and rebuilding Aldor as an alliance of free cities, where kings exist only in fairy tales.

The Royal Council, which rallied around the Regent Queen, decided to take Brynn back by force. At first, luck was on the Council's side: the royal army managed to come out victorious in a few important battles and even reached the walls of Brynn. It seemed that the city was doomed, but the skillful leadership of Duke di Berro allowed the Magistrate to turn the tide and send the enemy fleeing.

The Magistrate got a decisive advantage, and only a sudden outbreak of the Crimson Plague prevented it from launching a counterattack. This never-before-seen disease gave a proper scare to both sides of the conflict and forced them into signing a truce. Soon the Plague ended as inexplicably as it began, but both the Council and the Magistrate decided to maintain the shaky peace and lick their wounds.

This moment of respite was used by the Magistrate to great effect: it invested a huge amount of resources into restoring Brynn, so now the only thing reminding of the brutal siege is scaffolding next to a few remaining breaches in the city’s walls. And yet, even though Brynn is well-prepared to repel external enemies, internal struggles can often be much more unpredictable and insidious...

POLITICS

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Brynn is the Great Magistrate in miniature, its political conflicts being most evident in the city’s day-to-day life. There are three major factions competing for control over Brynn:

  • The Silver League used to be a mid-tier merchant guild. However, over the centuries it amassed great amounts of wealth and political power. The independence of Brynn, the creation of the Magistrate and the civil war which followed - these events were engineered and set in motion mainly by the highest circles of the League.

    The League’s cumbersome bureaucracy, although still effective, has lately begun to struggle with its responsibilities. To many of the League’s members it came as a surprise that not every war can be won with money alone, but this realization was long overdue.

    Ever since the previous burgomaster’s unsolved murder, the League has been led by Jeon Ballar - a descendant of the richest Brynn family, which made its fortune by trading in elven silk. His enemies often accuse him of currying favors with the Jacinth Kingdoms, and perhaps rightfully so, but no one can rival Jeon in achieving compromises and forming unlikely alliances. The existing status quo between the city factions can be attributed entirely to his efforts.

  • The Vanguard is a large army consisting of the local nobility’s troops, mercenary bands, and the city’s militia. Created by the League in an effort to reorganize the army, the Vanguard quickly became a government within a government, deeply discontent about the overwhelming influence that the mechant estate has over the Magistrate.

    The competent and decisive actions of the Vanguard protected Brynn from being captured by the royalists, so now its military leaders firmly believe that their sacrifice and valor earned them the right to rule the country. The only thing preventing them from openly confronting the League is the money it supports the army with.

    The leader of the Vanguard is Duke Arno di Berro, a scion of an old family from the Bronze Isles, who happened to settle down in Aldor. Arno di Berro is an aristocrat in a true sense of this word, and, as expected of an aristocrat, he shows open disdain for republican ideals. Despite all that, he’s still ready to fight for the Magistrate with all the ferocity and courage he can muster...

  • The New Guild are the artisans of Brynn, its sweat and blood. Initially the city had numerous guilds for various crafts. Their influence was so great that over the years at least a dozen craftsmen assumed the post of Brynn burgomaster. This fact had been greatly annoying the merchant estate, so not long after the war began, they attempted to deal with the guilds once and for all.

    Using wartime needs as an excuse, the League merged all guilds into one, placing it under its direct control. This violation of the free craftsmen’s ancient traditions provoked an unrest bordering on revolt. The League was forced to concede, granting the Guild a certain freedom of action, which resulted in the artisan estate gaining more power than it had originally.

    The Guild is led by Grandmaster Denvar Brie - one of the best weaponsmiths in the city, a stern and overbearing person. He regards the League in its current state as a crowd of freeloaders living off the working people. All it takes is a snap of his fingers to put all city business on halt, something which he most likely plans to leverage for his own gain.

That’s all for now. We’ll share more details about the factions of Brynn and their leadership in future lore devlogs.

Until next time!
 
Unwanted

Sweeper

Unwanted
Zionist Agent
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
2,394
how about you stop being toxic and let developers work on what they want to work on, huh sweaty?
I'll stop being toxic when you stop using dodge/evasion in Underrail normie.
Not followed this for a while, so what needs fixing?
The devs need to fix the way they manage their manhours. When I played this last, a year or two ago, the game was basically a combat demo without even a character creation system, and a whole shit ton of skills weren't implemented yet, I ran a couple of dungeons and stopped cause there was no real point to playing further. I check in on it from time to time, and usually it's just small additions to the game. So when I see them working on an instrument playing system, it just makes me think the devs are fucking retarded. Which is a shame, cause there's a good core there.

Early access was a mistake.
 

Trash Player

Scholar
Joined
Jun 13, 2015
Messages
438
The devs are as puzzled by their success as anybody else. They can't help themselves hoping for another audience breakthrough.
 

oscar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,036
Location
NZ
I'm fairly confident in these guys tbh. The framework for everything (towns, combat, AI, crafting) is already there and in good shape so what they should be focusing on now is just content, content, content.
 

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